Jabalpur district - An Overview :

Jabalpur is one of the largest districts in Madhya Pradesh with the administrative headquarters in the city of Jabalpur. It is located in the center of Madhya Pradesh covering an area of 10,160 sq. km. Geographically the region is a part of the Mahakoshal region of Madhya Pradesh. The language spoken here is Hindi. The district is a part of the Jabalpur Division.

Jabalpur district is located in the Mahakoshal region of Madhya Pradesh, on the divide between the watersheds of Narmada and the Son, but mostly within the valley of the Narmada, which here runs through the famous gorge known as the Marble rocks, and falls 30 ft. over a rocky ledge (the Dhuan Dhar, or misty shoot ). It consists of a long narrow plain running north-east and south-west and shut in on all sides by highlands. This plain, which forms an offshoot from the great valley of the Narmada, is covered in its western and southern portions by a rich alluvial deposit of black cotton soil. At Jabalpur city, the soil is black cotton soil, and water plentiful near the surface. The north and east belong to the basin of the Son River, a tributary of the Ganges and Yamuna, the south and west to the Narmada basin. The district is traversed by the main railway from Mumbai to Kolkata, and by branches of two other lines which meet at Katni junction.

Geography :

The district is part of Jabalpur Division. Jabalpur is located at 23°10′N 79°57′E / 23.17°N 79.95°E. It has an average elevation of 411 metres (1348 ft).

Demography :

According to the 2011 census Jabalpur district has a population of 2,463,289[2] roughly equal to the nation of Kuwait[4] or the US state of Nevada.This gives it a ranking of 180th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 472 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,220/sq mi). Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 14.39%. Jabalpur has a sex ratio of 925 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 82.47%. Hindus are majority religion in Jabalpur district with 87.65%, Muslims with 8.27% and rest of Jains, Sikhs and Christians.

Languages :

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 94.34% of the population in the district spoke Hindi, 1.93% Urdu, 0.71% Marathi, 0.68% Punjabi, 0.57% Sindhi and 0.48% Bengali as their first language. People speak multiple languages, including: Bagheli, which has a lexical similarity of 72-91% with Hindi (compared to 60% for German and English)and is spoken by about 1,08,59,405 people in Bagelkhand and madhya pradesh ; and Bharia, a Dravidian language spoken by at least 200,000 members of the Bharia tribe and written in the Devanagari script.

Education :

Jabalpur is an important educational centre of the Madhya Pradesh state. Jabalpur has Rani Durgavati University, Jawahar Lal Nehru Krishi University, Madhya Pradesh Pashu Chikitsa University, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, Madhya Pradesh Ayurvigyan University and Maharshi Mahesh Yogi Vedic University. Good educational institutes in Jabalpur include Govt. Engineering College, Medical College, Government M.H. College of Home Science and Science, Law Colleges, Post Graduate and under-Graduate Colleges. The Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design & Manufacturing (IIITDM) Jabalpur was established in January 2005. Institute would serve as an inter-disciplinary institution for education and research by keeping the concept of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) in mind.

It has some very reputed and old schools. Some of the schools are more than a century old. Apart from these educational institutions there a number of institutes offering various professional courses in Computers, Fashion Designing, Fine Arts etc.

Tourism in Jabalpur district :

Tourism in Jabalpur district boasts up with a number of beautiful and famous attractions. Some of the places of the major attractions of the district of Jabalpur in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India include the Madan Mahal Fort, Bhedaghat, Tripura Sundari temple, Tilwara Ghat, Dhuandhar Falls, Rani Durgavati Museum, Vishnu Barha Mandir, Sangram Sagar and Bajana Math etc. The Pisan Hari Jain Temples and Roopnath are some of the other places in and around Jabalpur, which are worth visiting.

Madan Mahal Fort : The Madan Mahal Fort is one of the major tourist attractions in the district of Jabalpur. Constructed by the Gond tribe, Raja Madan Shah in the year 1116, atop a rocky hill, this Fort dominates the skyline and offers a panoramic view of the town and the country-side around it.

Tilwara Ghat :  Another place of interest in the Jabalpur district is Tilwara Ghat. It is the place where the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi were immersed in the Narmada River, and it also formed the venue of the open session of the Tripuri Congress in the year 1939. This place also holds the 12th Century Mala Devi Mandir.

Bhedaghat : Bhedaghat is a small village of Jabalpur tehsil in the state of Madhya Pradesh on the bank of Narmada River and widely famous for its marble rocks. It is situated at a distance of about 21 kilometres from Jabalpur by road. The marble rocks at Bhedaghat rise to a hundred feet on either side of the Narmada River. 

Sangram Sagar Lake: Sangram Sagar Lake is a popular tourist spot in Jabalpur famous for migratory birds and exotic aquatic animals. Situated near Bajana Math Fort, the lake boasts of serene atmosphere and gorgeous locales. It also has boating and fishing activities.

Dhuandhar Falls: Dhuandhar or the smoke cascade is a waterfall in the district of Jabalpur. The Falls are located on Narmada River in Bhedaghat and are 10 meters high. The plunge of water in this waterfall is so powerful that its roar is heard from a far distance.

Rani Durgawati Museum and Memorial: Another place of interest in the district of Jabalpur is the Rani Durgawati Museum and Memorial. Dedicated to the memory of the great Queen Durgawati is her memorial and a museum which houses a fine collection of inscriptions, sculptures and prehistoric relics.

Temples in Jabalpur District : The Chaunsath Yogini temple in the district of Jabalpur is one of the most prominent places of pilgrimage in this district. Situated atop a hillock and approached by a long flight of steps, the Chaunsath Yogini temple commands a singularly beautiful view of the Narmada River flowing through the jagged marble rocks. Some of the other places of pilgrimage in the district of Jabalpur include the Vishnu Barha Mandir, the Tripura Sundari Temple, Kankali Devi Temple and many other temples that were built in the early phase of Indian History.Some other interesting places of interest include Balancing Rock, Pariyat Tank, Bargi Dam, Lamheta Ghat, Devtal, Bhadbhada, Bhawartal Garden, etc.